Trying something a little different. Now that this isn’t WP hosted, I can upload audio. I apologize for the quality and the shitty short notes. I’ll buy another bottle (oh damn) and do a more formal review.

Had a blast last Saturday and just forgot to post about it cause it was THAT crazy LOL!

Rocky Patel May 20th, 2011 Edicion Unica

The local rep from Rocky Patel, Stacy Cross, showed up with plenty of goodies, specials, and raffles. Featured were the new Edicion Unica May 20th, 2011, among others. She shared space with General Cigars and a Rocky/General collaboration that escapes me and if she sees this post hopefully she’ll let me know what the other cigar was!

Notes on the Edicion Unica are as follows:

A nice, clean look with a paper bag brown wrapper. Light with no visible flaws or veins. The pre-light is full of wood flavors and the typical stone fruit/raisiny tastes often found in cigars.

Stacy Cross of Rocky Patel

Upon lighting, the wood notes come across heavily reinforced. As with any Rocky Patel cigars I’ve smoked, the construction and draw are spot on.

Toward the middle of the cigar, sweet cedar notes present themselves along with deep pepper. Wood takes a back seat to (dark?) cocoa bitterness.

Touch of leather on the final end, and the cigar is mellow without being in your face overpowering. A limited release, if you can find these, get your hands on them and give them a try!

Late Night Chai, Highland’s superstar GM

Of course Mad Moulton was in, making a ton of dope ass drinks that not only had plenty of flavor, but looked incredible to boot. Take a look at his Instagram for proof of his cocktail prowess!

For an 11th anniversary party, it was much lower in key than last year’s 10 year, but still an awesome place with great folks, drinks and cigars. It was indeed, an example of Pure Indulgence.

I began drinking scotch recently after a (forced) hiatus due to cost. When I popped into my local package store, I thought it was time to make the switch back to the first brown spirit I truly fell in love with.

$40 later, I’d picked up Glen Moray 12 year Speyside.

Let’s start with the basics. After peeling the foil from the bottle, I pulled the cork and took a huge whiff, inhaling lovely notes I’ve associated with Scotch – Vanilla and sweet spice. I’d had a bit of excitement building since it’s been way too long since I could enjoy a bottle of Scotch.

The pour – Very smooth, showed colors of pale green/gold. Once in the glass, my sight was confirmed. I have a tasting glass that I use for the nose and buildup, which pretty much confirmed notes of fruit, some raisin and very light oak notes. The feel of this whiskey is very light in body, smooth as well with the burn at the back end just being light enough to let you know it’s there but not overwhelming.

Truth be told, I never thought I’d pick up fruity notes in a Scotch but Glen Moray 12 Year Speyside has them. They’re light, but obvious honestly. The vanilla lingers on a medium finish.

Adding water (three drops) opened the scotch up mulled fruit and charred oak.

Overall, a drinkable, everyday affordable 12 year Scotch from the Speyside region of Scotland.

First off I want to say I’ve been a scotch drinker for a very long time but the scotch we normally drink, made by William Grant is a great blended drink but it’s just that. For the price, it works for our household right now since we’re not living in extreme decadence *g*

However when an opportunity arises to not only experience a Pure Indulgence moment but to share it with the world, and for FREE, I say let’s take it! On the night of May 3rd, we were invited to a private tasting with about fifteen others at Le Colonial in San Francisco.

The restaurant itself is an older style building with a definite feel for exquisite food and clientele. Our private tasting was held upstairs by a man named Nicholas Pollachi, one of five Balvenie Ambassadors in the world who charmed us with humor, education and of course his Scottish accent. Sadly I didn’t get any video of this like I did with the Los Gatos Cigar Tasting. But here are my notes on five different releases:

First up: Balvenie 12 year Doublewood -Aged not once but twice. First in bourbon casks typical of how whisky is kept, and then a second aging occurs in more impressive oloros sherry casks giving the 12 year a slight sweetness. More often than not this is what I’m drinking at Occidental with my cigars.

Next: Balvenie 15 year single cask – This particular juice has hints of vanilla and oak from the Bourbon cask it was aged in. It’s a slightly dryer scotch with a nice finish and some floral notes on the nose.

The 14 year Carribean Cask -I had the privilege of tasting this at Occidental a few months back and was wowed. The nose had hints of things you’d normally associate with quality rum. A medium finish complimented the floral flavors on the nose and palate. Even better was the fact that this particular scotch is very easy to drink.

The Portwood 21 year – For fans of port, this particular offering has just the perfect nose, smells of porn infuse into the scotch from the barrels it was aged in. With an easy mouthfeel, this particular scotch is smooth with a floral back end on the palate with port-like notes and a light smokiness.

Lastly, we sampled the 17 year peated cask – This is for fans of the peated whiskies. The process used to achieve is rather unique in that it’s not a true peat malt offering . A good amount of smokiness followed by a soft nose, compliments this whiskey. This is a dryer style offering.

Overall, the tasting was fantastic and even better, Nicholas is a cigar smoker so when he returns to San Francisco we’ll have him on Radio Dentata’s Pure Indulgence.

We had a great time at Los Gatos Cigar Club talking to other cigar smokers, interviewing a few of the folks to talk about libations, cigars and of course learn more about Don Cervantes luxury cigars.

Below you’ll see a few pictures of the event, mostly the cigars, Max from ACC Cigars, some of the cigar accessories, and soon I’ll have a link to the podcast interview on Radio Dentata

It was definitely a fun event and I’m looking forward to doing more. Thanks to the folks at JMG for all their hard work and a special shoutout to Rich at Los Gatos, for his shop promoting the Good Life.

Look for more on Don Cervantes and the exciting things coming from ACC Cigars soon!